A Homemade Card
by BeeExtraordinary
Summary: It's Valentine's Day in the Boom Universe, and Amy has made everyone a personalized and thoughtful surprise. But of course, Eggman, whose LEAST favorite holiday is Valentine's Day, comes to ruin everyone's day! The gang will stop him though...right?


Amy Rose Hedgehog stepped out of her little beach-side cottage, leaning on the straight end of her hammer, and took a deep breath in. She knew very well what day it was. How could she not? The whole town was covered in pink hearts and lovey- dovey couples milling about. It almost made her sick- but only because she was alone today, and not paired with who she wanted to be... But no matter, there were more important things in life, for example, stopping the impending attack Eggman would surely launch on the village. Sonic could wait. It's not like he even knew of her feelings for him. And he definitely did not return them, this she knew.

Of course he knew! He wasn't an idiot! "Tell Sonic that I lo-" C'mon, it's not that hard to finish the sentence. But without that hint, he probably never would have figured it out. She was so calm and decisive, so smart and efficient, so kind and so caring. She was the heart and soul of the team. The hedgehog with the plan, executed with perfect precision. Not to mention she was lovely. Her complexion fair, and her quills just- wait. Hold up. He was getting ahead of himself. For once in his life. Today was a day for avoiding, which would be hard because the team was meeting for lunch at the food court to prepare for whatever it was Eggman would eventually throw at them. He did have budding feelings for her, this was true. He loved that she could hold her own instead of holding them back. Maybe today wasn't a day for avoiding? He sped back inside, getting bolder by the second.

Amy and Knuckles were the first to arrive, they ordered themselves food and got drinks before sitting down to just catch up. She had made each team member a homemade Valentine's card, and was anxious to hand them out to the people she loved more than anything in the world. "Of course, Tails tried to tell me that 5 did come after 4, but I could have sworn the day before that he told me it came after 7? Numbers are really hard, Amy. Did you know that?" She smiled sympathetically at her friend, he wasn't the smartest, obviously, but Knuckles sure did try his hardest, and he had many other things he was much better at than the others. "I get it," Amy replied, "it took me two years of after school tutoring with my elementary teachers to finally understand long division!" Knuckles scratched his head. "Long what?" Before Amy could answer, Sonic and Tails walked up to their table, greeting them both. Tails smiled brightly at Amy and Knuckles, "happy Valentine's guys!" "Right back at ya, buddy!" Knuckles said, taking Tails in a head-lock and ruffling his hair. "Hey," Knuckles said, releasing him, "I had a question about that whole 'numbers' business we were discussing?" Knuckles began asking, as Tails began to go get food, Knuckles following behind. Amy sat and munched on her salad as Sonic leaned an elbow on the table, "Happy Valentine's Day, Amy." He said casually, testing the waters. "You too!" She said, in her normal, cheery voice. "I wonder where Sticks is?" She questioned. "Oh," he laughed, "last I heard, she was curled up in a corner, avoiding what she calls "the government baby sent to try and control her feelings"" "Cupid?" Amy laughed, "of course she would. Maybe I should go talk some sense into her?" "Nah," Sonic glanced at her, "she'll be here eventually, I heard she made everyone something for Valentine's that she wanted to give-" CRASH. Sticks had arrived with a spectacular leap onto the table, knocking over Amy's meal and and sending Sonic to the floor. She scrambled underneath the table and peaked out at Sonic, sitting on the floor, arms crossed, with a bowl of salad on his head. Amy snickered, and he returned with a mock-angry look that shut her up quick. "Oooh! Good idea Sonic!" Sticks said, "if we keep our food with us, it won't be able to surprise attack us!" She scrambled up to the seat across from Amy and looked around as if checking for potential dangers before pulling out 4 rag dolls of Amy, Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails. "I made us these," she said, as Sonic began to stand and pick lettuce out of his quills. "They're rag dolls-" Amy took hers and held it up, "Sticks! These are adorable! Thank you! What a great gift, and here I'd thought you'd make us all tinfoil hats, or security systems, or-" "these dolls hold your soul, so if you die young, you can just find another body and inhabit that one for the rest of your life." Sticks dead-panned. Amy's face fell to a blank, "oh, of course." She managed a meek smile so she wouldn't hurt the badger's feelings, "thank you Sticks, I really love it!" Knuckles and Tails returned, arguing, and sat with the rest of them at the table. "No, Knuckles, I've told you! 5 will always, ALWAYS come after 4!" "Then what about 7?! When does that number happen?! Is it EVEN A NUMBER?!" The two continued bickering on either side Amy as Sonic tentatively took hold of his doll with a finger and a thumb. "Umm, Sticks?" Sonic questioned, why does this smell so weird?" Sticks shrugged, "for the ceremony to work, I had to bath it in skunk stink." Sonic dropped it instantaneously. "And you thought that was a good idea? Yuck!"

"Hey!" She pouted, picking up the doll, "careful with that! If so much as a hair moves out of place-"

"And what is long division?! When will I learn that?!"

Tails rolled his eyes, "if you can't even remember that 5 comes after 4, probably never!" Knuckles growled. "You told me! I specifically remember-"

"well it will ruin my whole image! I can't walk around town smelling like a pile of manure!"

"Well that's to bad," Sticks retorted, "cuz you've smelled like that for the past three days! Do you ever shower?!" Sonic stood abruptly,

"And what about you, miss 'Rumage-through-garbage'?!" Sticks leaped onto the table again, upsetting Tails' drink and spilling it in Amy's lap. "I had a tetanus shot scheduled, Sonic!"

Amy was losing patience quickly. She was now dripping in soda, and squished between Knuckles and Tails, who had now redirected his anger towards Sticks. This was Valentine's Day for heaven's sake! Shouldn't they all be trying to get along?! Shouldn't they all just shut up and apologize and quit making a scene?! Shouldn't- Knuckles pounded the table with his fist, and splintered the entire thing. The whole group froze and looked at the destroyed table. Amy huffed and broke the silence, standing up from her spot between the two red-faced males. "Look you guys! This entire day is supposed to be about LOVE! Can we stop arguing for one minute and just appreciate what we all bring to the team?!" Tails and Knuckles looked away ashamedly, Sticks hopped from the table, and Sonic looked at her with interest and admiration. She was a wonderful leader. She softened and began to pull some colored paper out of her pocket, "here," she smiled at them, "I made-" CRASH. A scream. This time it wasn't Sticks who had arrived.

Valentine's Day was the only holiday Eggman could say that he truly and whole-heartedly hated. It was an entire day devoted solely to love! The very thing he worked around the clock to defeat! Of course, he HAD made each member of Team Sonic a personalized card, you know, just in case they wanted to come hang out and shower him with praise, but that seemed unlikely. He grumbled about having to get out of bed that morning. He grumbled about the shows on television. He grumbled about the way his breakfast had been prepared. He grumbled at just about anything he could. He felt especially cranky today. Only when he began preparations for today's attack did he begin to cheer up. Messing with Sonic always made him happier, even if his efforts never did amount to anything. But today wasn't about messing with Sonic, oh no, it was about messing with everybody else. He called it Hate-Bot. And it was designed to make everybody's day just a little bit worse. It could split couples up, cause unexpected rain showers, and all sorts of other little day-ruining tricks. It was absolutely delicious, and he was itching to try it out. Thanks to his surveillance systems around the island, he knew exactly where their little group was, and that their bad day was about to get worse. "Oh yeah," he smiled, "let's go ruin Valentine's Day!"

CRASH. It was Eggman. Surprise, surprise. He was holed up in what looked like a giant mechanical bug, Squirting people with water guns and using its mechanical arms to separate people who looked a bit to cozy. The whole team stood and rushed to see the chaos. "Oh, ho ho!" Eggman screeched, "Sonic and his friends! Happy VALENTINES DAY!" He wrenched the lever to the right and repositioned the water gun to squirt all over Tails. "Hey!" Tails yelped, "that's really annoying!" "Exactly!" Eggman beamed, "I'm only here to ruin everyone's day!" He then used a mechanical appendage to knock over one child's ice cream cone, and pop another one's balloon. Both wailed and their parents came rushing over, looking frustrated and frazzled. "Alright, Eggman that's enough!" Sonic shouted, pointing towards Eggman. Amy shouldered her hammer, ready to strike on Sonic's command. She grunted, "yeah, this is almost worse than you trying to destroy us!"

"Don't you worry my dear!" He laughed, "that will come soon enough!" Sonic took off toward the Robot, leaving Amy to direct the others. She sighed, that's how it usually went, Sonic would go do his heroics while the rest of the team used actual strategy to take the robot down. "Tails!" She commanded, pointing to the fox, "fly up there and assist Sonic." "Roger that captain" he saluted sardonically and flew up into the sky. "Knuckles and Sticks! Distraction duty!" "Aww man," Knuckles' face fell and he stopped cracking his hands, "I hate that job!" Sticks on the other hand took off on all fours shouting and crying out, "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrayayayayaye!" Amy took off to look for a possible access port or weak point in the robot's armor, as it continued ticking off all the villagers and separating couples. She did two laps before giving up and instead focusing on tripping it up. There was no sign of Tails or Sonic, and Knuckles and Sticks had been caught in a wave of buzz-bombers and crabmeats. She ran to one of the robots 6 legs, wound up, and... WHAM.

On top of the robot, Sonic was racing about looking for an entry point,when he decided that the best way through would be the glass separating Eggman from the outside point. Man, it would be easy to get in there from a higher vantage point. If only... "Tails!" He rejoiced at the sight of his pal and leapt up, latching onto one of his arms. Tails hoisted them up, up, and higher still. "Ready?" He confirmed, as Sonic nodded at him. His hand left that of his brothers, and he curled slightly, feeling the air whooshing around them. He prepared himself for the satisfactory smash of the glass and his awesome landing, when- WHAM. He was dealt a more painful blow. He gasped and unrolled, realizing that Eggman had seen him coming and blocked him with an effective and powerful hit. Shocked and aching Sonic began to flail. Tails was nowhere in sight.

Yup. It was stuck in there. Amy had sunk her hammer deep into the mech of the robot. She tried her best to pull it out, but she had more momentum with the hammer, and no way to get the thing out without Knuckles' help, who was still busy with the drones. Her ears pricked. What was that whirring? She looked up to see a blue figure plummeting closer and closer to the ground. She didn't think, she only acted. Launching herself toward the hedgehog, she landed beneath him, and, closing her eyes in preparation for the blow, caught him neatly in her arms. Both Hedgehogs opened their eyes at the same time and found themselves staring at each other. Amy smiled sheepishly and Sonic looked away, embarrassed. "Oh how the tables have turned, huh?" She grinned, setting him down. "Huh, umm... Yeah, thanks" he said, rubbing his neck and looking away. Neither noticed the clanking of metal and the shadow of the impending mech getting closer and closer until the very last second. "Amy!" Sonic yelped, lunging into and sending them both toppling to the ground away from the robot. Sonic grinned and laughed, looking at the hedgehog next to him, who returned an out-of-breath smile,

"I guess we're even?" She shrugged. And they stayed like that for a split second. Just watching each other. Until reality dragged them back and a metallic arm stuck right between them. Both sprung up and assumed a fighting stance. Amy reached for her hammer. Her hammer? Oh no! It was still stuck in the robots' leg! She began to sprint, dodging robot arms and buzz-bombers, Sticks' boomerang and Knuckles' well... knuckles. She reached the weapon and pulled at it desperately, heaving and sweating with strain. A metal clamp locked onto her ankle, and began to drag her away from her safety blanket. She clawed at the ground and yelped for help, trying to regain composure and escape the claw as it lifted her into the air and deposited her on a metal platform at eye-level with Eggman, but still outside the glass. "Oh, ho ho!" The doctor laughed at her. "I know exactly how to ruin your day Amy Rose! What are those in your pocket?" She looked, having forgotten all about the letters she had spent hours each on. "Nothing!" She said boldly. "Nothing that concerns you at all!" She refused to turn back into that annoying little girl, so easily trapped and caught, used and scared, this was not going to happen. Amy Rose was no damsel in distress. Not any more. She took a leap off the platform, and for a second thought she had made it. She saw the faces of her friends on the ground fighting the drones and the robot at the same time. None of them saw her, none of them even seemed to have noticed she had gone. But she was yanked back onto the platform by the same metal clamp, and chained to the metal at the ankle by a connected shackle. She was as stuck as her hammer. And without it, their wasn't much chance for escape.

Sonic looked around on the ground level for Amy, racing beneath the belly of the robot. Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks had gotten rid of all of the drones, and moved onto the robot full force, each using their weapons to bring down the beast. Sonic skidded to a halt when he saw something that filled him with dread. A pink hammer, stuck inside a metal leg, claw markings dragging near by it, indicating the hammer's owner's disappearance. Sonic took a good look at the hammer and laughed a little bit, she had sunk it in there good. Almost went through to the other side! "Knuckles!" Sonic called, rolling out of the way of a flailing limb, "I need some help, bud!" Knuckles ducked and rolled, doing his best to avoid the metal arms and legs threatening to spear him if he missed a step.

"Alright, ya got me here, what do you want?" Amy huffed, crossing her arms, feeling more annoyed than frightened. "Why, to ruin your day! What else?" The madman grinned, beckoning from behind his protective wall. "I know how long you spent on those cards! Hand them over, or I'll take them myself!" Amy clutched them tightly, she had worked painstakingly for these! Pouring her heart to each team member, making sure that she recognized each of them individually, thanked them for being her friend, and made each person feel truly special. She was not about to just hand that over. "Yeah right, Eggbutt! This is one thing you can't take from me!" And she tossed them. She watched them flutter and prayed they would end up in the right place. But she should have known. And she shook with anger when she saw the claw bring all 5 letters back. They were put in a net, and she watched them burn in front of her very eyes.

Sonic and the gang were having some trouble with the hammer. All four of them tugged and pulled, giving one final heave before it, at last, gave up and disconnected from the robots leg. The leg, of course, immediately shattered and caused the entire thing to tilt slightly. The whole gang stepped back, Knuckles dragging the hammer behind him, and looked up the best they could. A single audible word floated down from above them, in a familiar high-pitched voice. "Eggbutt!" They all snickered. "Yup, that's her all right!" Knuckles said. "Should we go help?" Tails asked, readying his namesakes. "No." Sonic stuck out a hand to stop him. "She can handle this one." He smiled, "but we can give her a little help. Knuckles?" And Knuckles lifted the mighty weapon, with one huge heave, threw it into the air, until they couldn't see it anymore.

One tear. That's all she would shed. The ashes floated around her, got in her eyes and kept her from thinking straight. The sound of Eggman's laughter rang through the air. But that wasn't all. She looked up, and her ears perked for the second time. They had remembered her after all. She allowed one small smile, sticking her hand out, ready to receive. "Eggman!" She yelled, catching the human's attention. Her hammer landed in her hand with a satisfying thud, and Eggman's expression turned cloudy. She looked up at him with an almost devilish gleam in her eye. "There was a card for you too." And with that, she reeled back and threw her hammer straight into the glass of the machine, catching it upon its return. She heard the circuitry inside begin to malfunction and smelt the smoke on the air as she leaped from the platform once again. She felt the tug as the chain became taught, and curled up to strike it with her hammer. She fell. Twisting in the air to ready herself for the impact. Hammer first.

The ground shook.

Later that evening, the gang sat around a fire on the beach simply enjoying each other's company. There was no arguing, no fighting- but there was an apparent smell of skunk- in fact, Amy was unusually silent and reserved, not eating or participating in the conversation. Sonic saw. And he knew now was the time to act. Everyone left to their homes, except for him, who volunteered to walk with Amy, though everyone knew it was unnecessary. They strolled in silence, Amy's head bowed, until- "so..." Sonic boldly started, "want to talk about what happened to you back at the battle?" She huffed and looked at him, stopping, "why do you care?" She snapped, "It's not like it really mattered anyway..." "Hey!" Sonic snapped her back to attention, "it obviously did matter to you!" Amy sighed and sat down. "You're right." She smiled at him "you're always right when it comes to me." She looked away, "you'll think it's stupid," she warned. And without thinking, he took her hand, and looked right in her eyes, "No, I won't." She didn't blush, she didn't giggle or throw herself at him, only talked. "Well, I spent such a long time on these beautiful homemade cards for each of you guys, even one for Eggman himself, and he burned them. He burned them right in front of me. It hurt. Especially after you guys were fighting, I just wanted to do something to make you guys realize how special you each were to me, so you'd know that you are so appreciated..." She let go of his hand, and rested her head on her arms, "I told you it was stupid." He looked out at the water, and stood up, continuing the trek to her house. Amy was surprised he didn't try to comfort her, but she got up and followed, arms lagging. She knew he would think its stupid. They reached her door, and she simply continued on, about to shut the door, when Sonic the Hedgehog, with as much courage as he could muster, bent down to meet the girl he liked, and gave her a small but meaningful kiss on the cheek. He took advantage of her shock and placed a letter in her hand, before turning around and speeding off without another word.

Amy barely managed to close the door before sliding to the ground, dizzy and shocked. In a good way.

Dear Amy,

You are wonderful. Truly a light. We never say it, but the team would fall apart without you, and to be completely honest, I would fall apart without you. I admire how you hold your own, how you stand up for yourself, and never let a tough situation defeat you. You're as tough as nails yet as sweet as a rose. (Cheesy, sorry) you care so much for everyone on this team, and even for the people who are not. I guess that's why I care so much for you. One day I'll take you on a real date, when the time is right and when I have enough courage to ask ya. But you and I both no that now isn't the time. But wait for me, ok? And I'll slow down for you.

Sonic T. Hedgehog

P.S. Thanks for saving my skin back there, but don't tell anybody, k?


End file.
